His first
by kitkat127
Summary: She was his first friend. She reached out to him through art, through her painting. And the meaning of each thing she drew were beyond he could ever comprehend because he doesn't know what she gets from this. He doesn't know what she gets from his happiness.
1. Chapter 1: His First Friend

_No time for rest. No pillow for my head._

The first time that she, Hatsue, met Sasori of the Red Sand was no more ordinary than the sand flying to one's eyes. She closed them for a moment and he was there, with his mousy red hair, hazy look in his eyes, wearing green robes and a poncho. She was seated all the way back from him and out of all classmates she saw that day, he was the most interesting. It was probably because Sasori was quiet even with the obvious favoritism of their teacher towards him, he never gloated. When he was praised, he replies an obligatory thank you as flat and as uninteresting it is as the sands under their feet. Sasori was a prodigy, a genius or in her five year old wisdom, she described Sasori as a really smart boy. She described him smart because he gets high grades in class and it was no secret that he could already control puppets, a size of an adult. It took her years to say something on this compelling boy who seemed to respond with everything in vapid enthusiasm.

"Sasori." She called out.

The boy, 7 years of age, looked back and stared at the girl with dark, ebony hair and brown wide eyes. He doesn't know her name but he is not embarrassed, not curious, nothing. He should probably wonder why the girl called him out since he never got to know any of his classmates, with him building puppets inside his grandmother's spare workshop, he never got to play _Tag, you're it_ or _Hide-n-Seek,_ he should wonder but instead, he stared and waited.

"Congratulations on graduating!" Hatsue grinned her pearly teeth and offered a handshake. Pride swelled within her chest for being able to pronounce 'congratulations', it was a difficult word for her age, most children would opt for 'congrats', not her though, instead, she wanted to say the word in its original and complete form because he did not deserve anything less. She pronounced it perfectly.

Sasori, surprised, looked at his grandmother Chiyo, who smiled at him as gentle as she had always been with him and nudged him towards the handshake.

The handshake was childlike for their age. One wanted the handshake to be proper like adults do while the other took him by surprise again and shook his arm with great vigor. And the result was that Sasori pulled his arm enough for the girl to fall on her bum.

Hatsue's parents immediately pulled her up and dusted the sands off of her with coos and 'Does it hurt?' and 'It's okay's. And seeing this, Sasori's eyes burned, they could probably tore a hole on her if only eyes could. He tugged Grandma Chiyo's hand; He feared he'll get scolded by the weird girl's parents. Seeing this, Hatsue whispered to her dad to let her down. She took a paper crane from her robe's pockets and placed it upon her palm, covered it with both hands and concentrated her _chakra_ to pool inside the paper crane. She prayed to _Kami_ to _please let it work_. She opened her hands and blew on the paper crane. It glided towards Sasori in a straight direction hitting the boy between his brows.

 _Oops._

And to their wonder, the paper crane flitted its tiny paper wings, almost like a heartbeat but instead it was the _chakra_ rapidly leaving the paper crane. Sasori knows because he sees the _chakra_ just as he sees it when he tried to control his puppets, so he opens both his hands as if to cup the paper crane as it landed. He might not be the most friendly kid in Suna but he knows that this tiny paper crane and the way it was delivered to him was something sublime. Not wanting to be outdone, he pulled out a tiny puppet from his robes, the first wooden puppet his grandma Chiyo gave him before he started making his own puppets. Attaching _chakra_ strings on it, he controlled the little puppet and made it walk towards the weird girl. The movement was mechanical and awkward like this meeting between them and the girl knelt while opening her arms to embrace the little wooden puppet and called it 'cute'.

"Thank you." Hatsue bowed towards Sasori and the elder grandmother with much gratitude as she can, for she knows she is the only one to have ever received something from her smart classmate. She knows how he never stays to play at school or never made any friends. Sure, some kids wanted to play with him but after seeing him so uninteresting or sullen or like a puppet all the time, they stopped being friends with him. He was not isolated on purpose. He chose to be.

She wanted to say something to him, anything. She wanted to be friends with him. But alas, she had nothing left to say. She had said her congratulations and she had given him the paper crane. And so, she watched him leave with the elder grandmother.

That night, Sasori was building another puppet, a new one, maybe a puppet that has _shurikens_ inside its stomach. Sleep had rarely come for him now, and he wanted to finish this puppet so he didn't mind. Besides, Grandma Chiyo had work tonight and left him all alone so he can work all night until morning. He was about to change his poncho when the paper crane fluttered on the floor. He looked closely and saw an ink peeking out on its fold. He picked it up and unfolded the paper to see an art that cause him to stop and forget to breathe for a moment. It was a flower with a little petals that curls upwards but upon closer look the petals were actually fishes. Here in Suna, the sand village, flowers are rare, fishes are even more so. And the weird girl painted it so like there was breath of life on this paper. Had she seen one before? And is she stupid? This artwork, this breathtaking painting shouldn't be folded into a paper crane. It should be framed and be hanged on a wall.

And that night, he didn't work on his puppet, instead he used the spare wood for a frame. Carving the frame, he held the chisel steadily with great care and wondered what kind of carving could compliment the painting. And he thought of the sand, the sand that looked like a great yellow sea in its barren form. It covers miles and miles and that is what all the citizens from the sand village has seen their entire life and he wonders if anyone, like him, pretended that the sand was a sea like the way it was drawn in books. He continues and waves appeared on the wooden frame with a lone shell on one corner.

Sasori, for the first time, wanted to meet a living person, not his puppets or grandma Chiyo. He wanted to know that weird girl that he can't remember her face because he wasn't looking at her properly. He wanted to know the name of the girl who made him dream of oceans, of flowers and of bright colored fishes.

 _Nowhere to run from this. No way to forget._

She wasn't plain, the red head thought. She was a mystery like any other he hoped to comprehend. Now he starts to wonder why, why did she talk to him? Why did she gave him the painting? Why was it, she looked so unattainable when surrounded by her own friends? It was silly. They were standing on the same sands, lived in the same village. So someone tell him why she looked like she was living in a different world than him? He thought he forgot her face since he wasn't looking at her properly. Who knew that as soon as he saw her buying snacks with her friends (he thinks they're her friends), that he'd recognize the same wide brown eyes?

"Oh, hey Sasori!" She waved at him, a bit embarrassed because she was caught by _him_ acting like a kid which is silly because she was a kid and there was no need to be embarrassed by that. But he was so quiet and so... grown up and she thought she should act like one.

As soon as grey eyes met hers for a moment, those pair of eyes immediately looked away and as soon as it did she knew he'll ignore her and that made her panic. She immediately broke away from the circle of her friends and chased him tugging on his green robes which made him stop and turn around.

"I never got to introduce myself!" She said, no she shouted, but she didn't notice because she was breathless and she was still holding on his green robes because she couldn't believe herself. She was a girl and she shouldn't be this strange and fuzzy towards boys! Maybe there was something about being a child... There was little to fear. They only fear the monsters and shadows and tailed beasts but they do not fear what must the other think? They rush head on, charging with naivety and wisdom of their youth and maybe it is something that adults admire, something adults envy as one grows old.

"My name is Hatsue," she looked down, letting go of him and her hands touched her forehead protector, she was nervous but she continued, " _Hatsu_ means beginning and _e_ means painting."

Still, the boy just stared at her. That did not stop her from grabbing his hand again, leaving her friends dumbfounded as she ran dragging the prodigy. "Wanna play with me?" She asked, not really minding how his face showed a bit of reluctance and of course unsmiling as it was.

No answer.

"Where's your forehead protector? The others have started wearing it but others are wearing it around their neck, or their arms. I bet you look good wearing it." She babbled.

Still, no answer. She stopped and turned around to give him the stink eye. She looked stupid talking to herself. The silence stretched between them and they were bathed with sun's glow like a marmalade and made his red hair fascinating. It made her brown eyes looked like golden in that light and made the boy feel light headed.

"Your painting..."

Finally! She thought. He was finally talking to her and so she replied happily, "So you opened the paper crane? I thought you wouldn't but yes that was my painting! See what I did with the flower? It was fishes! but the form was a chrysanthemum flower, it doesn't grow in Suna but I hear in other places where there is autumn, it gro-"

Her mouth was covered by his hands and there was furrow on his eyebrows.

"Are you always this noisy?" He asked, annoyed.

She smiled and he could feel it beneath his palms, her hands went up to his wrists and guided them away from her mouth and dropped them and she was smiling at him _oh so_ cheekily.

"The fishes, what were they called?" He asked, curious. They were not aware of the people passing by, and his voice, not shy, just small, as if they were in a secret conversation that spies have.

"They were _koi_ fish." She answered, feeling smart because she knows things that this smart boy doesn't know. Things like different flowers and animals that doesn't exist in this lonely barren village. "They only live in cold waters so I haven't seen one but I saw them on my books."

" _Koi?_ Love? Love fishes? That sounds stupid." He said because it does sound stupid. ( **Author's note:** Koi is a homophone with love or affection in Japanese. Homophone means similar _sounding_ words that means differently. Ai means real love and Koi is love for the opposite sex or selfish love.)

She laughed. Pure, lighthearted, carefree joy that was expressed in sounds because what he said was indeed funny. And Sasori relaxes into it, because he was in short supply with happiness.

" _Koi._ Carp." She answers after regaining her composure. "It's a symbol of friendship, you know. The koi fish."

He looked at her again and realizes how this girl is not as simple as he thought, so he tried to ask, maybe he's wrong, maybe but he tried.

"The flower? What does it mean?"

She looked at him and smiled again, cheekily.

" _Longevity and rejuvenation._ "

"You want to be friends with me. You want to have a long friendship with me." He states because he knows he is right. There was no mistaking it anymore. And she looks at him in amazement and wonder and claps happily and delighted,

"You're really a smart boy, Sasori. Yes, I want to be friends with you."

And he looks at her for a long time and thinks maybe this girl wouldn't be a bad friend, just to ease his boredom and they walk home slowly as Hatsue explains to her the story of a koi fish that climbed a waterfall to become a dragon. And she adds that one day, they should visit a place that has a waterfall and they should go together.

What he doesn't know that the crane meant 'the bird of happiness' and Hatsue sent him the first paper crane, they said if you fold a 1000 paper cranes your wish will come true, but she doesn't know how long will that take. And so she'll make sure he is happy. She didn't get to make Sasori smile but she did get him to be friends with him. The wings of the crane were believed to carry souls to paradise and deep in her heart she chants just like how it was written in the book,

 _"oh flock of heavenly cranes_

 _cover him with your wings."_


	2. Chapter 2: His First Playdate

**Author's note:**

This story is set in Sasori's time, that means the Second-Third Shinobi War. In a time of war, even children are educated (or corrupted) in warfare.

link to what Hatsue looks like (yes, i'm pathetic haha) art/Hatsue-696925082 (just google it, it's in deviantart)

 _This chapter is dedicated to Anoni, your review made my heart pound, I might be in love with you (-winks-), I fear the day I'll write something out of whim and break your heart._

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 _Around the shadows creep, like friends, they cover me._

If Sasori thought a friend is someone you talk to in your own convenience, he'd be wrong. So, so wrong. Hatsue would frequently pester him, or talk his ears off, or pawed at him because she was adamant to prove that everyone has a tickle spot, even him. His tickle spot was his feet, but he wasn't planning on telling her that. He learned that a friend is someone inconvenient. You must not leave your friend behind, you must invite that friend whenever you do stuff and you must share things with each other. The last one was emphasized by Hatsue. She lent him his paint brush which he has no use for it since he was not a painter.

What _really_ bothered him however, was Hatsue's minor friends (they're minor because Sasori doesn't like them). They would take up her time so much to mediate between them to make up with each other that she had always little time to spend with him or he became a second priority. Then, he got fed up with the treatment that he says something to her.

"I don't like your friends." He confronted, casually saying it as if he was just describing the weather which is always hot. She shook her head but with a smile on her face.

"I can't change how you feel." She said so matter-of-factly.

At this, he was miffed. "Do something about it."

"I can't. Why?"

"I don't like them."

"They don't like you either." She replied, no big deal.

"Well, stop being friends with them!" He snapped, glaring at her. This boy didn't know the intricacies of friendship since it was also very vague for him. He thought it was only a matter of having common interests at the moment which gave him a pause because they were not similar. Similar or not, who cares? A child prodigy is still a child and children hates to share something they own especially those things they think they _rightfully_ own, be it familial affection or their favorite toy. Children learn to share if they are taught how to share and why they must share, but who was there to teach this poor, _poor_ boy whose dainty little hands gives form to wood as he waits in vain for his parents to come home?

"I can't just stop being friends because friends don't just stop being friends!" She reasoned. Oh how naïve this little girl was. Idealistic. Something only in a perfect world would exist.

"You're stupid, stupid!" An angry expression on his face, his hair matching his expression, curled in all sorts of direction as if ready to spring in mad action as he rattles off. "You're my friend so you can't be someone else's friend! I don't like them playing with you, taking up your time! I don't like how they think I'm weird and how they don't like me too and I think you forget about me when you play with them and I think you'll change your mind and stop being friends with me because you're having more fun with them than with me!"

She didn't mind the insult because she wasn't really stupid. She's proven him wrong when she says,

"I will not stop being friends with you." She promises, in a way that it almost makes it easy to uphold. "And I will not stop being friends with them."

Sasori knew he wouldn't be able to change her mind, or maybe he could but they were not close yet. That did not stop him to try something though. She was playing at a store with her _other_ friends, eating happily at a snacks shop. A thin thread of _chakra_. A jerk of a hand. Hatsue spilled her noodles on her friend; she immediately apologized, wiping and helping her friend and children are children. The friend cried, humiliated, ran shouting that she was telling her mom about what Hatsue did. With the incident, the following days ensured that he had Hatsue's time all to himself which is such a _wicked_ treat for him.

"Morning, Sasori." She jumped, waving at him.

"Morning." He mumbled his reply, ducking his head, a tad bit shy. He wasn't used to this yet, that is why grandma Chiyo wanted to invite Hatsue for a whole day which the girl enthusiastically accepted.

"I brought snacks." Lifting a bag filled with sweet, sticky dumplings called _dango_. His eyes lit up, such a child, affected by the sight of the sweet confections. Taking the bag from her and leading her towards his house, the boy noticed something different about her today… or maybe there wasn't anything different. Who was he to say? They haven't been friends for long.

"Ayahh." Grandma Chiyo made a sound like she was pleasantly surprised. "Hatsue, take off your poncho and I'll hang it here and Sasori, let me fix the snacks, take her upstairs and play both of you." The elderly took the piece of cloth from Hatsue's hands and pinched the girls' cheeks. (Old people really can't keep their hands to themselves, can they? The red head thought.) He handed the snacks and turned to face the girl.

Should he grab her hand?

Before he could mull over that question, the girl was already climbing the stairs and stared at him impatiently. He shook his head and a tiny curl of a smile came as soon as it left. He followed three steps behind her, giving her directions to his room. Its window overlooks the main road so he'd be the first one to see his parents come home if ever he was at home and awake. It had four corners and was almost bare if not for the closet, the bedside table and the bed too large of a single child to sleep on. Hatsue continued standing up even long after Sasori sat on the bed. At this, he gave her a puzzled look.

"I don't think I should sit down." She said, looking at him pointedly as though what she said was a sufficient explanation.

"Why?" The way he asked was so innocent and harmless, there was a slight tilt of his head as he stared at her.

"Because…" she started.

He waited. His grey eyes wonder why she was turning red, her cheeks are beginning to resemble his hair.

"I'm shy!" She blurted out with flushing cheeks.

A moment of silence. His voice quietly shook, a strange moment, he laughs at her silliness, the sound free, not forced, surprising her and because of this she was vexed. It took the boy a minute before he calmed down. By then, she already sat down on the bed because her feet were starting to ache.

"You'd think that you should be shy sitting on my bed when you already led me to my own room, walking as if you own the house!" His tone incredulous at her bizarreness, a tiny, boyish (he likes to think it sounded boyish, since he _is_ a boy) giggle escaped, although short-lived.

"Sorry?" She offered, but she was not really sorry when she got to make him laugh. It wasn't on purpose but hey, she'd take credit in any way she gets to make him laugh.

"Hatsue…" He flopped down, lying on his bed. He wonders how he should say this. "You said I'm your friend, right?"

"Yes." She answered, there was no hesitation.

"For how long?" He asked, glancing at her while she was staring at a picture on the bedside table.

"For eternity." She replied simply as if the words she says are easy things to keep. _Perhaps_. Perhaps it is easy for a child but how easy would it be when they grow up? Not to mention, the talks of war are frequently circulating. Why was it so easy for her to say such things? Wasn't she scared?

"Even when I'm not like you?" He wondered out loud; He hadn't meant for it to be asked. She slowly turned to face him and stared at his steely eyes and what he saw was deep compassion, a care so great he was startled because things like that are as addictive as sweets to his sweet tooth. She is addictive to someone as empty as him.

"No, you're not like me." She didn't assure him that they were alike because that would be a lie. "You look like you're going somewhere far."

He gave her a surprised look because he didn't think he looked _anything like that_. He thought he looked snobbish. He heard the other kids talk. He didn't care.

"Even now, I think you're not really here with me." She raises her hands, hung them in the air probably trying to catch words to say. "You look like you're meant for something _great_. And things that are something great are never meant to be kept hidden, especially not in this village, sooner or later you'll go to places I can only imagine. You'll be great."

"You'll be great too." He told her. She smiled a smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"I'm not amazing, I barely pass as a _ninja_ , all I can do is fancy tricks and basic stuff. All I can be proud of is painting."

"That's why you're great! You create art." Her paintings weren't pretentious; they had meaning.

"And where would that take me?" She voiced her fears now that the _Chunin_ exams are approaching. "Great _ninjas_ get to have cool missions in places far away from this village, maybe to a place where things in my book exist while I'm… stuck here because I'm not great, so no, you're not like me at all."

"Then train harder." He said. It was the obvious thing to do so why is she acting like it wasn't an option.

"I don't want to be a _ninja_." She whispered, afraid that if she didn't, her words would be heard by everyone and she was ashamed because being a _ninja_ is everything in this world. This was a secret she never shared until now. "It must be a shock for you but all my life, as much as I admire them and hail them as heroes for the protecting the village… I don't want to become one."

"Why?" He stared at her wide brown eyes that looked like chocolate, they almost made him want to eat them up.

"I can't go to war. I don't think I can kill. I don't see what's the point of people from different villages to fight over a land. I know we badly need a land where we can farm but can't we just share? Divide the land in equal sides between Konoha and Suna? Maybe I'm a coward and maybe this is just an excuse but I'm scared of dying. What's even scarier, when you're in a battlefield you shouldn't think that everyone is just killing because they want to live because if you do think about it then your drive to kill them might be affected because all of us are just the same. We are all just trying to keep ourselves alive. Once I step into my first battlefield, I'll experience horrors I can never imagine." She paused, swallowing a starlight of words that express idealism. "And I'll become a different me, the guilt will plague me like a bitter disease, and I know I'll never get to paint the same way again."

Silence visited them again, sat with them like it was invited for tea.

They were indeed different. She can never be great, not in the way this world revered wars he thought. She was not great but she was good. This girl didn't belong in this era of wars. She belonged where she can travel freely, the sun shining brightly above her as she visits places she could only dream of and those sights will take her breath away that she'll sit there, an itch on her right hand because she had to immortalize the beauty around her. He knew everyone had no choice but to become a _ninja_ , even his parents. This war will make both villages bleed.

He tugs her down and now they lay side by side and he felt like he had to confess what he had done because she shared something he knew she would never share to her _other_ friends.

"I attached _chakra_ strings on you to make you spill those noodles on your friend."

She stilled, a flare of anger licked her heart but she sees him and knows his ignorance in friendship.

"We'll be okay. I'll just apologize again." She won't tell on him and that was probably a test from him because they were both secretive and they jealously guard their secrets like a bear does with honey.

"What if you stop being a _ninja_? Just be a painter." He suggested.

"Who would buy my paintings in a time of war? At most, I'd be lucky if they were looked at." And she smiled at him, reading his thoughts. "No, you don't count. The paintings I give you is free."

"I forgot to answer your question." She took his hand and said, "Even when your hands stop being yours, even if they become an instrument to be used by the _Kazakage_ , even if it becomes a puppet by the council, even if you're not like me at all, we'll be friends."

Her eyes were twinkling, it really tempted him to eat them up.

"Also, as long as you keep your heart, no matter how it becomes when we go into war, as long as it's there, we are friends for eternity." She smiled, her cheeks still had a little baby fat and it was simply adorable for him, like there's a squeeze in his heart.

When she smiled like that, it's like she is asking him to bite her cheeks.

The next day she left him another paper crane, it was the second time, this time it was simpler drawing of an endless knot with her name on the left and his to right. There were written words on the back, a detailed explanation that read:

endless knot was also known as mystic dragons, two _Nagas_ or serpents intertwined, battling for the fate of the world, we are like the serpents, locked in a struggle forever but we are not the good and evil, there's no evil, only choices that we think is better, I am the good (presumptuous of me but humor me) serpent and you are the great (because you are) serpent intertwined to struggle against the world. I hope our lives will be intertwined forever. We'll be eternal. _We are eternal._

Sasori was left with a daze after he read it, because he swore he could almost hear her voice saying those last words. _We are eternal._ When he is old enough, he should ink her words on his skin.

 _Just want to lay me down and finally try to get some sleep_

 _Chunin_ exams are only three months away. ( **A's note:** In Naruto's time, the age of graduating from academy is 12 but I think Sasori's batch would have to graduate early because the Sand is at war with the Leaf, as you can see at Sasori's profile in narutopedia, he graduated at the age of 7 and was promoted at the age of 8)

It had become a reality for Hatsue that she was going to war and that was unavoidable, Sasori feared for her safety so he asked grandma Chiyo if he could learn poisons with the girl. They were inside elder Chiyo's workshop, a dark basement with only a lamp as their light, it flickered casting shadows of them, it was all but quiet because of the sandstorm raging outside. Elder Chiyo, with her grey hair and wrinkles that came with knowledge and experience, noted the girl's aptitude for memorizing, she remembers everything word for word straight from the text book.

" _Hemlock or Conium_ has a purple-spotted stem, fernlike leaves, small white flowers, and a distinct unpleasant smell. Highly toxic. For an adult, the ingestion of 100mg of conium or about 8 leaves of the plant is fatal - death comes in the form of paralysis, the victim's mind will be wide awake but the body will not respond and eventually the respiratory system shuts down." An unnerving thing to hear a child, barely eight, an age of her grandson recite words of knowledge on poison. For a moment, the old woman's hand shook. She grew up living in a war, thought of it as natural and now, she thinks there is _nothing_ reasonable for children to go to war. But they had made their bed and they must sleep on it.

"If I wanted to poison someone fast and remain undetected in a crowd, what poison should I use?" Elder Chiyo asked. How effective is the poison

"Aconite. Poisoning can occur even after touching the leaves of the plant without wearing gloves as it is easily absorbed in a rapid pace. It is untraceable in nature that is why it is primarily used in assassinations." Sasori answered.

"What are the symptoms? Hatsue."

The girl nodded and replied, "The symptoms of poisoning are tingling and numbness of tongue and mouth and a sensation of ants crawling over the body, nausea and vomiting with epigastric pain (a name for pain or discomfort below ribs in the area of the upper abdomen), labored breathing, pulse irregular and weak, skin cold and clammy, features bloodless, giddiness, staggering, mind remains clear."

"How effective is the poison? Sasori."

"All the species contain an active poison Aconitine, one of the most formidable poisons which have yet been discovered: it exists in all parts of the plant, but especially in the root. The smallest portion of either root or leaves, when first put into the mouth, occasions are burning and tingling, and a sense of numbness immediately follows its continuance." He paused for a breath. "One-fiftieth grain of Aconitine will kill a sparrow in a few seconds; one-tenth grain a rabbit in five minutes. It is more powerful than prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) and acts with tremendous rapidity. One hundredth grain will act locally, so as to produce a well-marked sensation in any part of the body for a whole day. So acrid is the poison, that the juice applied to a wounded finger affects the whole system, not only causing pains in the limbs, but a sense of suffocation and syncope (fainting)."

"What is the antidote for this poison? Hatsue."

"There is no immediate antidote but the symptoms can be counteracted by anti-arrythmic drugs or agents that are found in various herbs that slows the heart down." Hatsue wore a blank face. "This poison is effective to coat weapons."

Elder Chiyo looked at both children, the boy lost his parents before he could even know them, making him hollow but she sees that Hatsue is a companion much needed by her grandson, especially now that Sasori had begun to smile. And the girl, the old woman knows, the girl is too soft for war; those wide brown eyes gives her softness away. She stood up, patted their heads, pinched their cheeks. She told them she was going upstairs to fix dinner. Now that grandma Chiyo was gone, they could talk how she was feeling.

"You don't like this." He knows her well enough now.

She shook her head and gave a vain laugh. "I don't have a choice."

"'There hath beene little heretofore set down concerning the virtues of the Aconite,

but much might be saide of the hurts that have come thereby.'"

She stared at him, gaping.

"'I have heard that Aconite

Being timely taken hath a healing might

Against the scorpion's stroke.'"

"You're a poet?" She thought it was absurd. He laughed because he wasn't.

"Granduncle Ebizo recited those when he drops by and watched me memorize poison with grandma." He looked at her. She had a far away look in her eyes. "You're worried about the exam?"

"Yes." She nodded and she saw his furrowed eyebrows making her laugh. She knew he was trying to find words to comfort her. "I don't think I'll pass."

"Don't say that." He gave her a stern stare.

"I know you'll pass though." She smiled at him, already proud.

He crossed his arms. "I won't pass without you."

"You can, if I do pass, we'll go to war together but if I fail, I'll still have to take the exam again."

"I like being around you. I don't think I'll like it without you."

"I don't think I'll like it too."

3 months later. Sasori passed the exam.


	3. Chapter 3: His First Shame

**Author's note:**

This chapter is dedicated to His First's second reviewer _januaryowl13_. The question is _can you_ ship them? If you do, I can promise you something and it depends on your answer.

I know some may get confused... sometimes I update chapters after I publish them whenever I feel like it's a little short.

Special mentions: _Elizabetch, Riomi-senpai, SoraBlankShiro, alice 0, vixbee, AlmostAnne, Saara666_

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 _We carry on through the storm_

 _Chiyo._

She clenched her fists shaking looking towards her grandson, the fear shone in her tired eyes. She wonders if she should have done things differently. The children doesn't know… doesn't know… doesn't know… It echoes inside her head. But she knows, she voted for what they will go through the _Chunin_ exams. They needed people, men and women, who can fight for the war, not _children_. There was a hammering ache in her head for awhile now.

"Elder Chiyo, here's your coffee." Small hands carrying a mug and offered it to her. Hatsue has been a diligent student, almost better than Sasori. However, the girl was occasionally wandering off to find inspiration. At first she had expected the girl to be better behaved than her grandson but she was the wayward child of the two. She chuckles at the thought, one time finding Hatsue on the floor with paints and papers reasoning it helped her memorize.

"Thank you, Hatsue." Chiyo replied, taking the mug with a smile and then she asked, "Where's Sasori?"

"He's getting ready for the exams, I suppose. He's in his workshop checking his puppets again, wanting it to be perfect." The girl rolled her eyes in exasperation though the fond smile on her lips betrayed her.

Tentatively, the elder asked, "And you?"

"I'm… ready as well." The girl answered unsurely and then shrugged saying, "If I failed then I just have to try again, right?"

Chiyo's hand trembled, spilling the coffee on her hands but the scalding hot water didn't bother her as much as the guilt that assaulted her. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes but she held it in. She held it in and felt her throat ache. Hatsue seeing the coffee spilled, hurriedly try to turn away from the old woman to find cloth to wipe.

"No." The elder's voice croaked. "You _can't_ fail."

Hatsue stopped and turned around and said she'd try her best not to fail as if that was enough to give the elder assurance but it won't. It won't. The old woman knows Sasori won't fail but the girl? This girl with her kindness that wore her grandson down, the sweetness of her character that made this old woman long for a granddaughter. Chiyo didn't have a granddaughter, although his grandson was cute enough but a granddaughter to cheer her up and pass down womanly advices was something she was missing out, and Hatsue gave her that opportunity. She is fond of the girl.

"Elder Chiyo?" Hatsue's voice cuts her thoughts.

 _Elder Chiyo_. The old woman mocked at herself. She wants to hear the girl call her 'grandma' but she couldn't allow it. She's afraid of getting attached but no matter how guarded she was, the girl found a way to be close to her heart. The girl was fond of talking to her (Chiyo thinks Hatsue is an old soul) and she was an excellent at the art of tea ceremony. She placed the mug down on the table and beckons the girl to come over.

 _Kami._ _Please._

Chiyo took Hatsue's hands firmly but the girl felt the tremor from the old woman.

"They taught you about the different hand seals in the academy. Do you still know the seals for the _Rat, Ram_ and _Dog_?"

Brown eyes looked at her with something akin to fear, the girl must have sensed her fear but this cannot wait. Hatsue nodded and she lets go of the girls' hands.

 _Ne._ Left thumb on the outside.

 _Hitsuji_. Left thumb on top, hands together vertically.

 _Inu_. Left hand flat on right fist.

Nothing happens and the girl looked at her questioningly but she only said, "Again."

 _Rat. Ram. Dog._

"Again."

The girl repeated the hand seals over and over again just as Chiyo told her but the sun was starting to set and stars began to peek it was almost time to go home, the burn on her hand had long started itching and the redness an angry mar on her wrinkly skin, the hand seals took a toll to the girl, the _chakra_ was undirected because the child doesn't know what the hand seals does.

Chiyo asks the gods if they were listening to let this work, the girl must learn this or _else_.

"Guide your _chakra_ towards your palms, pool it there."

The girl collapses as it goes on she was weary and was shaking her head saying ' _no more.'_ Harsh dark eyes clashed with soft brown ones and some whispers, 'you must child, you must if you want to pass the exam, _please_.' And the girl sees this old woman, this counsellor of Sand Village, this leader of the Puppet Brigade, this elder, she sees a lonely woman who lost so much and hears the mourning in her voice. The child sees a broken soul.

Hatsue tries again and her legs tremble from exhaustion but she tries again because Hatsue is enlightened with the thought that Sasori wasn't the only one so, _so…_ _sad_. Hatsue might have said she wasn't fit to be a _shinobi_ but there were different opinions on what a _shinobi_ should be and her heart was strong like any of them because deep down inside of her she wants to save everyone she could reach.

A flicker of a tiny orb-like chakra appeared out of her palms and the child's eyes leapt to meet hers in surprise, Chiyo gestures for Hatsue's palms to be placed on the burn on her hand, the red mar slowly vanished like it hadn't been there before. That was then the elder allowed herself to collapse on her knees and gather the child infront of her into her arms. _Thank Kami_. Relief racked through her body and she cradled the child as if Hatsue was her own.

"Elder Chiyo?" Hatsue called, embarrassed and unsure what to do with the hug.

"Grandma, call me grandma, child." Chiyo said and she now allows herself to be fond of this child with no intention of holding back.

If this child at the age of eight could perform a healing _ninjutsu_ then Sasori wasn't the only prodigy in this generation. If Hatsue shows this to the other elders of the council and to the _Kazakage_ then Hatsue didn't have to take the general _Chunin_ exams, medical-nins are too great of a value during this time and shouldn't be wasted in the exams just to die. Chiyo sobbed at the thought and stopped herself because it was done, she and her brother Ebizo devised this exam, an exam that meant a child has to kill to pass.

It was kill or be killed.

* * *

 _Tired soldiers in this war_

"Are you ready? Do you have your weapons and scrolls?" Hatsue asked while combing his hair which was unnecessary since it will revert back to its messy way again. "Do you have your water and snacks? I have some extra snacks here if you want more."

Sasori nodded but Hatsue rambled on, "Oh I'm so nervous for you. And make friends okay? _Kami_ knows you need other friends and what I meant _boys_ I'm afraid I'll influence you with my girly things as I've heard from other kids."

"Other kids tell you that?" Sasori asked, a hint of umbrage.

Hatsue rolled her eyes and flicked the boy's forehead. Lately, Sasori had developed a tendency to be very angry on anyone who antagonizes her or anyone who questions their friendship. It was natural she guessed for someone _friend-deprived_ for a long while and it was cute seeing the boy glare at for her sake ;when she remembers there was a time she was glared at by him too, she couldn't help but hang a smile on her lips.

"Don't worry about that, worry about your exams, slow-poke." The brown haired girl had learned the art of teasing because of Sasori. It was funny because if she ever called her other friends slow-poke, there would be trouble to ensue. It comes with the age, maybe, as kids grow up, name calling will be normal by then but right now they were at a tender age so name calling was probably unacceptable for others.

"I'm not slow!" The red head disagreed, still with that drowsy look in his eyes. "I just happen to like enjoying at my pace, besides you're an idiot."

Hatsue sputtered. "What does me being an idiot have to do with you being slow?"

"So you admit you're an idiot." He laughed. It still surprises her whenever he does but it doesn't diminish the warmth Hatsue feels.

"I am not an idiot! You're just being stupid."

"You're just stealing my words now, idiot."

"Fine! I'm not talking to you." Hatsue crossed her arms and pouted because she couldn't win. They were walking towards the the tower-like, colosseum structure, their academy. _Chunin_ exams had the written exams and then the practical exams. The pair were accompanied by Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo who have been long amused by their banter, especially Ebizo. He had tried to visit as many times as he can for his sister's grandson, hoping to alleviate the loss their family had but he had never seen the boy as carefree since the boy's parents died, until now.

"Good. You were being fussy with me like those mothers of our classmates." Sasori sneered.

"I wouldn't like you to be my child either! You are not cute! And that would be weird since how can I be your mother when we're the same age? Stupid." The addendum was necessary, she was trying hard not to smile.

"I said _like,_ idiot. I was comparing you to mothers. This is why you're an idiot."

"You worry me so I just become fussy when it comes to you." Her arms were flying wildly in the air in her explanation. "Oh, never mind then."

This was the time Ebizo, with a very interesting smile intervened, "Hatsue, there are only two people in this world that is allowed to be fussy to a boy. One is his mother and the other is the wife. And the same goes for the girl, the only two people who can be mad for her sake are her father and her husband, three if there's a brother."

"What's a wife? What's a husband?" Hatsue asked.

"A wife is a mother and the girl that lives with a boy in the same house, idiot. A husband is a father and the boy that lives with the girl in the same house." Sasori looked at his granduncle for confirmation.

At this, the old man laughed, "Close but you'll understand someday."

"Well, whoever becomes Sasori's wife is an _idiot._ He's mean and she'll put up with him? My advice to her is run far away from him." The girl smirked at the thought. _Who could even survive Sasori? He's a menace._

"Whoever becomes Hatsue's husband is _stupid._ She's annoying and he has to live with that? When I meet him I'll tell him to hide from her, I'll even lend him a hand or better yet I'l just bury him beneath the sands that way she'll never find him." Sasori retaliated and mused. _Living with Hatsue should be colorful, literally. With her paints always smeared on her face or on her clothes, it would be colorful._

Both the old siblings laughed at their banter, forgetting for a moment that today was the exam and they had just arrived.

* * *

 _Remember what we're fighting for_

There were 38 students competing in the practical exams, the other 102 failed during the written exam. There was a riddle before beginning the written exams, whoever got the answer right automatically passes the written exam because the riddle's equivalent was 100 points and it wasn't just knowing the right answer, one has to have an explanation on how they reached their answer.

The riddle was about a family who was murdered. The father, the mother and the son was killed. The only one who survived was the daughter who hid inside a closet. Her name was _Nana_ and she was 9 years old. When the authorities examined the bodies, they found that the father had managed to leave a message on the floor before he died. It was written in his own blood. They couldn't make sense of the strange message. It just seemed a series of random numbers. _141141._

Since the girl did not have any living relatives, one of the _keisatsu_ (means police) volunteered to have the little girl live with his wife and kids until things have calmed down. They thought she would be safe there. After awhile, an unemployed, 34 year old man who lived in the neighborhood was arrested. The _keisatsu_ questioned him but he said he didn't know anything about murders and had rarely left the house. They didn't believe his story and was convinced he was the murderer.

When the _keisatsu_ officer came from home, he took Nana aside and told her that they had a suspect. When she heard this, Nana was very frightened and the officer tried to calm her down and whispered softly to her, "Don't worry Nana, this horrible ordeal will be over soon. We are going to catch the bad man who hurt your family and make him pay for what he did."

Then, the officer looked at Nana's face. The little girl was smiling and she even began to laugh.

The students didn't have any idea what to do with the riddle because it was presented as a story so most of them had given up solving it, others had tried but only one got it right. Sasori listened to the riddle but was only fixated on the numbers, the rest were just useless information that was meant to distract. He mulled over the numbers 141141. If you flip the numbers, it doesn't make sense. If you add the numbers, there wasn't any point until he noticed something. He walked up to the examiner, a tall man wearing a turban, forehead protector and Suna jacket, an ordinary looking man.

"I know the answer." The red head looked at the examiner with the same indifferent, dreamy look he gave everyone (except Hatsue, he didn't know but unconsciously his eyes light up when seeing her or mentioning her).

"Any other brats got an answer?" the man asked, loud enough to quiet down the entire room. "No? Okay, brat. Let's hear it then."

"Nana is the murderer." Sasori answered.

"Idiot. She was hiding during the time of murder." A student shouted.

Sasori glared at the source. "How would you know she was hiding? Were you there?"

That shut the others up which made the examiner curious and amused with the red head. "What made you come to that conclusion?"

"Specific information, there were only two specific information in the riddle: the numbers 141141 and the name Nana. In the alphabet, the 14th number in the alphabet is the letter N and the first letter is A. N-A-N-A. Nana." He answered as if to say that was the most obvious thing to conclude. "Afterwards, everything makes sense why she was scared when the officer told her they had a suspect and why she laughed at the end because the officer said _man_ meaning their suspect wasn't her."

"What about the part she was hiding in the closet during the time of murder, stupid?" Another rude remark from the same source.

Sasori replied in irritation, "That detail was meant to misled. But if it happened in reality, she must have staged herself hiding in the closet."

 _clap. clap. clap._

"Well dumb brats, it seems only one of you who actually knows how to think and for this he's free to proceed the practical exam." The examiner laughed. "Brat, your name?"

"Sasori." He replied, already bored. He wonders how his friend was doing, grandma Chiyo told him Hatsue was going to take a special exam.

"Sasori, you will be one heck of a shinobi, one day."

* * *

Hatsue nervously tucked a hair behind her ear as she made herself presentable. Chiyo had told her she can be exempted from the general Chunin exams if she showed the Kazekage what she can do. What did grandma Chiyo mean? Her paintings? She knows the Kazekage was an important figure, some even say he was the most powerful Kazekage ever yet. It is an honor to even meet the Kazekage and she couldn't help but twist her robes in nervousness. She wished Sasori was there with her, maybe looking into his grey eyes could help him calm down.

Hatsue, holding onto Chiyo's left hand, went inside a large, round, sandy coloured building with several rows of windows, the kanji for "wind" (風, _kaze_ ) painted on the side of the building in a circle. The top of the building is flat and tiled. When they reached the Kazekage's office, it smelled like the sand which found the girl disappointed, she expected there was a special fragrance since _this_ is the Kazekage's office. She felt a squeeze on her hand which caused her to stay alert and attentive as a tall man wearing the Kazekage attire and a Kazekage hat, turned around and she felt it was funny since the man was covered everywhere except the eyes. The Kazekage's eyes were yellow and they were upturned, wide-set, narrow eyes; it reminded her of the eyes of a stray black cat that frequents her room, disregarding the narrowness of the Kazekage's eyes since cats always have wide eyes that seemed to look into you.

"You are the little girl Elder Chiyo told the council about?" the Kazekage asked, staring at her and she shies away from the eye contact.

She lets go of the old woman's hand, tugged her robes down, wrinkling them in the process. _Was she in trouble?_ She looked at the ground while answering, "I may or may not be. That depends on what grandma Chiyo told you about."

The Kazekage raised a brow at the girl. _Such cheek._ He also turned to look at the elder, dubious at the fact that this elder was never one to be called affectionately by anybody. "Elder Chiyo has told me that she made you perform hand seals. Do it again infront of me."

The girl pouted and said, quite bossily. "Say _please_."

"Forgive her, _Sandaime_." Chiyo hurriedly bowed and turned to correct Hatsue however, she was halted by the wave of the Kazekage's hand.

"Her manners will get better, she is still young." The Kazekage looked at the girl and asked, "How old are you?"

"Eight years old." She answered. _What manners? He can't even say please._

"Will you please perform what Elder Chiyo taught you?" He asked her again, but it still sounded off. Though the words were a request, the tone held command.

"Okay since you ask nicely." The girl said comically which made the Kazekage smile but they couldn't see that. Hatsue did the hand seals confidently, she was practicing at home ever since she learned it. Her hand started to glow and a tiny orb of _chakra_ came out of her palms. After a few seconds it flickered out.

"I can't hold it for more than a minute." She apologized. "I only started two days ago."

"She is only eight and has only learned medical _ninjutsu_ just before the exams?" The Kazekage's displayed a stoic expression.

"Yes, _Sandaime_." Chiyo nodded, solemnly. At the adults' seriousness, Hatsue misinterpreted it as condescension so she butted in saying,

"I will get better!"

The two looked at her with an odd expression and the Kazekage said that no doubt she will. He stared at the little girl, studied her for a long while. If this girl learned to be the best medical-nin then the war against the Leaf Village would ensure less casualties. They had found a gem who needed a little polish, fortunately Chiyo discovered her talent, if not, she would've been cannon fodder in the exams. Judging by the looks of the little girl, she wasn't a killer, maybe not yet, but one day she will if the war continues. Those wide brown eyes are a dead give-away to her softness. He wonders if there comes a time those eyes would close and look away from the killing. For now, she had to be excellent.

"When you see me, greet me as your _Sandaime_. Report here directly to me every 8:00 am of the morning." He instructed.

" _Sandaime_ , you don't mean?" Chiyo asked, not finishing her question.

"She'll be my student." He answered.

At the words, Hatsue and the old woman were shocked. "Pardon, _Sandaime_ but you are not a medical-nin?"

"Yes, but I can teach her better chakra control. That is the most important factor for a medical-nin, is it not?."

"But you can't be my teacher!" Hatsue protested.

 _Why was this girl protesting? Even if she does not like it, she still have to do it._

 _"_ I'm sorry _Sandaime_ but you look like a _teru teru bōzu!"_ She blurted out.

" _Shiny baldy- what_ _?"_ The Kazekage looked affronted. ( **A's note:** teru teru bozu when translated to english means shine shine monk or shiny baldyhead)

"Hatsue!" Chiyo scolded but couldn't really.

The brunette crouched down and took out a paint and a paint brush from her robes pockets and began to draw on the floor. The drawing turned out to be a ghost doll. "Teru teru bozu is a doll made of cloth hung by a string and they were used as a charm to prevent the rain. It looks like you, really." Hatsue explained proudly.

While Chiyo was apalled at her, the girl just _vandalized_ the Kazekage's office.

There was a sudden chill in the air which was phenomenon since they were in the desert. Hatsue and Chiyo felt a cold sweat on their forehead. The Kazekage suddenly turned around and began shaking, frightening the girl and the elder.

" _Sandaime_ , forgive the child she is young and naive." Elder Chiyo tried placating the Kazekage.

"Kuh!" A sound broke out and the next moments brought out a sigh of relief and amusement at the Kazekage's expense. He was barely trying to hold himself up trying to reign in his roar of laughter muffled because of the cloth covering half of his face. Hatsue asks what made him laugh which resulted into more laughing that also infected the old woman.

When they calmed down the Kazekage said with eyes full of mirth, "Maybe that's why Suna is a desert, because of the Kazekage's attire. We have been a living _teru teru bozu_ preventing rain for generations."

This earned him a sweet smile from the girl. "I've never thought of that before."

The Kazekage then turned serious. "Since you've vandalized my office you will be punished through community service and your community service is to serve as my student."

Hatsue frowned at that and looked at the floor, frankly, the office looked interesting this way but she nodded anyway and accepted her fate. She was now a student of the Third Kazekage.

* * *

It had been 11 days since they last saw each other. That's how long the exams took. He had passed the exams. The relief Sasori saw in his grandma's eyes was palpable and he should like to say that he had been proud. Stone faced, he let his grandma hug him. He tried to summon that. _Pride_. A small corner of his lips curled, in an instant he stopped himself.

 _"And make friends okay? Kami knows you need friends."_

Hatsue. At the thought of her, he felt a sense of shame. She was his first friend and will always have a special place in his heart. He wanted to refute her back then at the absurdity of her words and yet… he did make friends. A handful of them.

"Grandma, where's Hatsue?"

"She's at _Sandaime's_ office. She's his student now, learning _chakra_ control with him. She's going to be a medical- _nin_." Chiyo stood up and held his hand as they walked, past the clay structures they call buildings. "We're just in time to pick her up, her parents asked me this morning."

"Ah." He nodded, understanding.

When they arrived at the office, he had a glimpse of the change in her demeanor. Her back ramrod straight attentive while holding a stack of papers handed to her by the _Sandaime_. She was so still when Sandaime was talking to her, she almost felt foreign to him until they went inside and she saw him.

"Grandma Chiyo!" She greeted with a happy grin. "Sasori." Striding towards him, she looked at him from head to toe. "I see you passed."

Without any change in his expression, he wondered if she knows but she still looked at him the same. Hatsue turned towards her teacher asked to be excused. She sounded _grown up_ almost. A funny sense tickled him seeing her act differently. She seemed _tamed._

"Let me just file these papers then we can walk home."

They watched her go through the papers one by one and sort them in folders then stack them on shelves. "Now hug me!" She spread her arms towards him childishly. _She didn't change that much_. He wouldn't be Sasori if he walked towards her so he waited instead. Delight was what he felt when Hatsue wrapped her arms around him. Soft cheeks brushed against his. He hugged her back, feeling his heart slowdown in her embrace.

"Ahem."

They both broke away and looked at their audience. Hatsue had the sense to be embarrassed.

After that weeks had by, Sasori got a job with his grandma, researching deadly poisons and antidotes while Hatsue continued being a student however, they can be deployed in any needed moment as the war goes on. The citizens tried to act as normal, but with the rationing and the curfew it was hard to act like war wasn't happening outside Suna's boundary.

They were walking home as usual and the puppetmaster looked at his brown haired friend. Every sunshine of a smile she gave him reminded him of the friends he made back at the exam. He went downstairs to his workshop with another painting he received from Hatsue. He examined the painting. Another thought provoking art she made. She drew _shurikens_ , flower-like, on branches spreading into a shape of 平和. Heiwa. Peace.

 _"It's funny how people wants peace but has to go to war to achieve it. What does it say about us humans?"_

Sometimes he stares at her for too long and was glad she didn't participate in the exams. He closed his eyes and reminisced the feeling of gutting others precisely and carefully, just one strike to kill was desirable for intact parts. If someone lost a limb, could he build a wooden one for him? It took him eleven days to finish exam, he was having the time of his life, learning about techniques and since he had to kill everyone why not, try and gain something from it?

Every time he stared at her, he sees bloodied mouths of the people he killed, of the new puppets he made, the new friends he made.

Was he weird? He didn't think so. Hatsue would understand. She was his friend. Surely she had the morbid curiosity of looking at his innards just like he wonders about hers. And yet, he liked her alive, her pulse quickening when he held her wrist, her breath soft and slow when she's healing him.

Something broke him that day at the exams. Or changed him. Or maybe he was long broken when his parents failed to come home.

He took out some spare wood, this time just simple to emphasize the shape of the branches. Peace. And when Chiyo went down to check on him, and saw Hatsue's artwork, an intangible feeling clasped Sasori.

Here was a painting of peace on his wall made by the girl that could save his sanity, said painting is hung inside the room where he made his puppets, weapons for war, of people he killed, acts of violence that contradicts her belief.

As Chiyo turned her back on him to leave, his eyes darkened at the question in his mind.

 _Grandma, what have you done to me?_

* * *

( **A's note:** Well i dont wanna jinx myself so imma shut up. Anyways if you didn't know, Chiyo and Ebizo were council members and it was hinted that they had made cruel decisions for the sake of winning the war against Konoha. Please leave a review. I'm sleep deprived. Thanks for reading.)


	4. Chapter 4: Art

**A's note :**

To **Liz** : Yes Hatsue is too kind almost. I didn't want to make her kind tho, naive was the route i was going for. I'm glad you like it!

To **Akatsuki Wolf Rider** : _-nods seriously-_ Yes. I aim to disintegrate you into a puddle of goo. Now, melt for me. _-takes out my fan and laughs like a villainess-_

To **Stellar Nymph:** I wanted to make this fanfic short, not because of the few views it has but because I already pictured an ending for the alternate universe I created for Sasori. You are one of the few who likes to read of an OC interacting with canon characters. For that, I hope you are/will be moved with my writing, at least for a moment.

To **sallymadrigal605** : You don't know how badly I wanted to read the word _refreshing_. I wanted this to be refreshing so much that it hurts. Hope you stick around.

To **overtherose:** I feel tingles when I read the word refreshing. Ha! If we put our minds on it maybe we do have the will to get what we want. Truth is, I'm starting to regret writing Hatsue as a medical _nin,_ but if I don't... i can tell you 100% Hatsue will die on the exams if she wasn't. After all, we gotta make her live long enough to be remembered by Sasori. As for the ending you are suggesting, my fingers are aching to write your scene. I am invested in that kind of ending. However, if I go down that route, it wouldn't give our Sasori the salvation he should have had. Still, stick around please.

To **fanofthisfiction:** Sasori is indeed the little heart throb but they still had to kill each other so i don't think crushing was a thing if you didn't pass the exams yet. Don't worry, he has his own fanclub in Suna, our little painter would meet them one day. I wanted him to go down the awkward route. There are many I have read that our little puppetmaster was quite slick with romance. Not in mine though, l don't own him but I want him as a cinnamon roll with a little psychopathic on the side. Seriously though. Sasori deserves better!

You **_reviewers_** know how much a feedback means to a fanfic writer . _**This chapter is dedicated to you.**_ I hope you read this at night in your room, or in a cafe with few people or any place that gives you complete concentration as you read.

 **Special mentions** : candygood1, regiusdawn, demonavenger888, yuki0123, nathy13, animefairy299, Iceleigh, anime0luver, Shiovaun, Ijustdon'tcare132, Aurora9871, GreatCat-Sama, RougeNeige, Supix, MaskedSilver, moonseeds99, animegirl3774, AsteriaTheFallen, KotoriZ, Kentan, Azzahradafi, iluvbrodybear16, AriadnePlath, Cheyenne761, CollegeGirl2018, Dreamy-Girl2016, astrit090, gothchic6, luvielle,, poprockie

* * *

 _There are cherry blossoms fluttering around him and Deidara. For a moment, Sasori felt something fleeting, an overwhelming desire to stop breathing and close his eyes, to never wake. The feeling passed and he was left with the machinations in his mind and the rambunctious antics of his partner- friend? No, the child will never be his friend. No one in Akatsuki is. A group of people trying to change the world. No matter the methods. No matter the reason._

 _"Art... is an explosion!" The blond haired kid exclaimed and placed his arms around himself imitating a girlish antic. "This is art."_

 _The wind fluttered again, it always is when there are cherry blossoms around. But the accurate reason would be the set of explosions following Deidara's exclamation. Just another mission from Akatsuki. Deidara seems to be having fun though._

 _"I still don't get what your art is about." He said ,a voice of old and grey, with someone in mind. He'd take her to sights they didn't have in Suna. To see a field of chrysanthemums, a pond of koi fishes, a rainbow on a waterfall, a temple with nagas etched on the pillars, to see a grove of cherry blossoms like the one he is seeing now and many more. Their plan. Their promise that one couldn't keep._

 _"Someday, you'll understand the beauty of what is fleeting." Deidara replied, unknowing of his views._

 _Doesn't Sasori of the Red Sand know it? Hatsue... is- was beautiful. He should have known that someone beautiful could only be temporary. Why he is obsessed with puppets; isn't it to preserve beauty? If something precious is treasured for so long, wouldn't it still be precious? If something beautiful is cared for, preserved it, like pressed flowers, wouldn't it still be beautiful? Art should be timeless. Like her. Like the way she haunts him. She is both fleeting and timeless._

 _I went down to_

 _mingle my breath_

 _with the breath_

 _of the cherry blossoms._

There it is. How often she haunts him. She was reading a book of poems to him, while he worked tirelessly in the basement, sculpting wood, making more puppets. She knew if she believed him saying that it would only take 20 minutes to finish then they'd never get to hang out so she insisted to read in the basement so he'd see her face and feel guilty for making her wait.

 _There were photographers;_

 _Mothers arranging their_

 _children against_

 _gnarled old trees;_

 _a couple, hugging,_

 _asks a passerby_

 _to snap them like that,_

 _so their love_

 _will always be caught_

 _between two friendships:_

 _ours & the friendship_

 _of the cherry trees._

"But Sasori we HAVE to take a picture." She whined. "It's for memories. When we grow up, we'll travel and take a picture with the cherry blossoms. "

 _He thinks that he doesn't have to take a picture. He already has great memory. Photographic. He wishes he didn't. He should have long forgotten how she looked like and yet here he is, in his mind, a vivid image of her remains._

 _Oh cherry,_

 _why can't my poems_

 _be as beautiful?_

"Why do you think this poet laments so much?" Hatsue asked.

"I don't know Hatsue but I'm sure you're gonna tell me the reason either way" Sasori rolled his eyes, annoyed.

She stuck her tongue out at him. He looked at her unimpressed. So childish.

"Maybe the cherry blossoms are so beautiful that even when I paint it, I can't do justice on it." She said and then she shot him a grin and asked "Wanna add that to our list?"

"It's a date." He said still looking down on the wood he's carving, the arms he made are too asymmetrical.

"No it's not a date! We're just friends and why would you say that?" She asked hotly, cheeks stained red.

"Granduncle Ebizo told me to say it whenever you make plans with me. Why is it wrong?" He asked in genuine confusion.

"Dates are between couples like how our parents did before they married." She answered. "Besides, Sandaime is the only one in my heart now!"

He dropped his chisel.

"-what?"

 _ All around us_

 _the blossoms_

 _flurry down_

 _whispering,_

 _ Be patient,_

 _ you have an ancient beauty._

 _ Be patient,_

 _ you have an ancient beauty._

She told him as long as he kept his heart, they would be friends for eternity. How can they still be friends when hers is already six feet under?

* * *

(okay this chapter is incomplete, stay with me I have a thing in my head.)


End file.
